him up for several weeks, and prevented
his presence at the home marriage of his sister Fanny, to William
Hensel, the young painter. This was a keen disappointment to all, but
Fanny was not to be separated from her family, as on Mendelssohn's
return, he found the young couple had taken up their residence in the
Gartenhaus.

Mendelssohn had been greatly pleased with his London visit, and though
the grand tour he had planned was really only begun, he felt a strong
desire to return to England. However, other countries had to be
visited first. The following May he started south, bound for Vienna,
Florence and Rome. His way led through Wiemar and gave opportunity for
a last visit to Goethe. They passed a number of days in sympathetic
companionship. The poet always wanted music, but did not seem to care
for Beethoven's compositions, which he said did not touch him at all,
though he felt they were great, astonishing.

After visiting numerous German cities, Switzerland was reached and
its wonderful scenery stirred Mendelssohn's poetic soul to the depths.
Yet, though his passionate love of nature was so impressed by the
great mountains, forests and waterfalls, it was the sea which he loved
best of all. As he approached Naples, and saw the sea sparkling in
the sun lighted bay, he exclaimed: "To me it is the finest object in
nature! I love it almost more than the sky. I always feel happy when
I see before me the wide expanse of water." Rome, of course, was a
center of fascination. Every day he picked out some special object
of interest to visit, which made that particular day one never to
be forgotten. The tour lasted until the spring of 1832, before
Mendelssohn returned to his home in Berlin, only to leave it shortly
afterwards to return to London. This great city, in spite of its fogs,
noises and turmoil, appealed to him more than the sunshine of Naples,
the fascination of Florence or the beauty of Rome.

The comment on Mendelssohn that "he lived years where others only
lived weeks," gives a faint idea of the fulness with which his time
was occupied. It is only possible to touch on his activities in
composition, for he was always at work. In May 1836 when he was
twenty-seven, he conducted in Duesseldorf the first performance of his
oratorio of "St. Paul." At this period he wrote many of those charming
piano pieces which he called "Songs without Words." This same year
brought deepest happiness to Mendelssohn, in his engagemen